This Shabbat we will be saying special prayers in the synagogue to announce and bless the new month in the following week. We do this because the concepts and lessons contained in the Jewish calendar are so central to our beliefs that it is necessary to teach and emphasize them regularly. The calendar is a…
We begin reading the book of Exodus this week, which has as its central theme the events surrounding the redemption of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. G-d intervened in history, punished the Egyptian slave-masters and took His people Israel out of Egypt with miracles and wonders. With the Exodus, G-d created the physical…
This week is the fast of the 10th of Tevet. The Babylonian empire first laid siege to Jerusalem on the Tenth of Tevet, 423 BCE, cutting it off from the outside world. This not only laid the groundwork for the destruction of the Holy Temple but also caused horrific suffering for the besieged population of…
My family recently took advantage of various Black Friday and other seasonal sales to buy new clothes. Not always easy, if you have any sense of modesty. So, I thought this would be a good time to discuss the issue of modesty, briefly. The prophet Micha tell us, He has told you, O man, what…
Setting the Scene Israel: Approximately 200 years before the events of Chanukah, hundreds of thousands of Jews returned from the Babylonian exile to the Land of Israel. In time, they rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem and established an independent Jewish monarchy. Greece: After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, the Greek-Macedonian Empire…
As the weather gets colder one of the things that I have been thinking of is chapped skin. Yes, my hands get very rough and chapped. I use a hand cream on them, but, when I put on my tie I can actually feel the fabric catching on my skin! I cannot help thinking that…
I am here in New Jersey, getting colder and being more windblown as fall is in full fling and winter approaches. Winter gets very bad press in general. You know, people talk about someone reaching the winter of his days, in other words, he is shriveling up and dying. Winter is the opposite of summer,…
I have been saying Kaddish, (a prayer that is said by mourners), for my mother OB”M who passed away about six months ago. Kaddish was instituted almost 2,000 years ago and is mentioned in numerous places in the Mishnah and Talmud. Kaddish is written in Aramaic, the spoken language of the Jews in Israel and…
The earliest mention of burial is found in Genesis, when G-d speaks to Adam: “By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, from which you were taken – For you are dust, and to dust shall you return.” Just as the soul returns to its source in…
Abraham and Sarah, the parents of the Jewish people were renowned for their kindness and hospitality and indeed their children have, for thousands of years, also been noted for their philanthropy. Every Jewish community in the world, no matter how small or poor, has always had charitable societies and funds. A typical example was the…